Can Trade Cycles Help to Steady the Ship?<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>Two weeks ago, this page took a look at the supply side problem facing the shipping industry. Now, the analysis switches the focus to demand, trade growth, its cycles and the extent to which it might absorb supply.
<br /> Trading Up:Let’s start with the global trade statistics. In 1990, world seaborne trade stood at 4.2 billion tonnes. By 2000 it had increased to 6.0 billion tonnes and it is projected to reach 9.4 billion tonnes in 2012.
<br /> As the graph shows, although global seaborne trade declined by 4.5% in 2009, on the back of the global economic crisis, it has averaged 3.6% per annum since 1996. That’s not such a bad performance at all. However, there has been year-to-year volatility in the rate of trade growth over the period, from the aforementioned low in 2009 to peaks of 7.1%, 6.8% and 9.7% in 2000, 2004 and 2010 respectively.
<br /> Growth Cycles
<br /> But, just how volatile are the cycles in trade growth? Well, the graph also shows the 5-year moving average of seaborne trade growth. And, despite a high of 5% and a low of 2.3%, it’s clearly fairly steady, with the 5-year average growth rate in only 5 of the 22 years since 1990 deviating more than 1% from the long-term average rate. So, on average, whatever the 5-year period, one could have expected seaborne trade to grow 16-20% in total.
<br /> Tonnes and Tonnes
<br /> However, consistent as trade growth cycles may have been, that’s not always enough to balance the prevailing level of supply growth. The impact of this can be seen in the ratio of trade to capacity (see graph). In 1990, there were 6.9 tonnes of cargo per deadweight of ship capacity. This increased to a peak of 8.0 tonnes per dwt in 2004 but then declined to 6.8 tonnes per dwt before the onset of the downturn in 2008. The ratio is projected to decline 6.0 tonnes per dwt this year, implying an oversupply which is putting freight markets under immense pressure.
<br /> In reality, of course, regional trading patterns and tonne-mile demand trends change over time and can impact on this ratio. Nevertheless, on the basis of continued “cyclical” trade growth of 3.6% per annum and the projected delivery of the current orderbook (with no further capacity addition), cargo tonnes per dwt could theoretically increase back to 6.7 tonnes per dwt within a five year cycle, not too far from the long-term average of 7.1.
<br /> Steadying the Ship?
<br /> So, with global seaborne trade growing steadily, does everything really come to those who wait and see the cycle through? As pointed out two weeks ago, shipyards are keen to generate business, but just how much ordering for future delivery this will generate over the next few years is still open to serious question. Trade growth might help to steady the ship but, to get the balance right, shipping investors’ will still need to get their timing spot on.
<br /> Source: Clarksons
<br /><br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Call me Brawny: Iran defends tankers alias game<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>New names for Iran's oil tankers are part of its national tanker company NITC's defence against tighter United States sanctions which target it, the company says.
<br /> NITC ships are taking to the seas with colourful new identities, swapping Farsi names for those that cover a range of human virtues.
<br /> Freedom, Truth, Honesty, Justice and Leadership should resonate nobly in international waters; Brawny, Valor and Mars carry with them a hint of steel.
<br /> &quot;The change of flags of the fleet was a transparent and pre-emptive action to avoid breaching the new sanction law which was intended to be implemented in the concerned flag state,&quot; the National Iranian Tanker Company said in a statement.
<br /> The ruse, in a cat-and-mouse game with Washington and Brussels over sanctions against its nuclear programme, is unlikely to work.
<br /> &quot;Anyone who is in the business is going to know the real identity of a specific vessel and renaming is not going to fool anyone,&quot; a former oil tanker captain said. A tanker can still be tracked by its unique identification number.
<br /> Another ship industry source said: &quot;It seems more of a subconscious move to gently steer people away from the Iranian identity of the ship. It's at best making it less obvious that it's Iranian.&quot;
<br /> NITC has also reflagged most of its tankers, swapping Malta and Cyprus flags for those of Tanzania and the tiny South Pacific island of Tuvalu.
<br /> &quot;We therefore hereby strongly refute any allegation of being a governmental entity or a property of the government of Iran and reiterate that the vessels within the fleet have always been operated legally and in accordance to the applicable national international laws and regulations,&quot; NITC said.
<br /> The U.S. Congress passed new measures this week aimed at further restricting Iran's oil revenues. The bill includes requiring President Barack Obama to determine whether NITC has links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which would lead to sanctions.
<br /> NITC has already been in the firing line and on July 12, the U.S. Treasury identified 58 of its vessels and 27 of its affiliates as extensions of the state, which would undermine Iran's attempts to use renamed, disguised vessels to evade sanctions, the department said.
<br /> A senior NITC official, who declined to be named, said the group would challenge the sanctions, but did not elaborate.
<br /> &quot;NITC has always been transparent in its activities and has honoured international laws and treaties to their fullest,&quot; it said.
<br /> Founded in 1955, NITC went private in 2000. Its main shareholders are three Iranian pension funds.
<br /> &quot;Accordingly its beneficiaries are over 5 million retired people,&quot; NITC said. &quot;There is no single budget allocated to NITC by the government and it is not a property of the government of Iran.&quot;
<br /> Nevertheless, there have been growing questions over who is running NITC. In late January, Hamid Behbahani, formerly Iran's road and transportation minister, took the helm.
<br /> Behbahani is a close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and there has been speculation in the shipping industry that his arrival was linked to moves by the Iranian president to entrench his authority in strategic sectors, notably transportation and energy.
<br /> Ahmadinejad's rivals impeached Behbahani for mismanagement in February 2011.
<br /> &quot;Having Behbahani there does not signal the type of independence that NITC is seeking,&quot; the shipping industry source said.
<br /> Behbahani told Reuters in February 2012 that it was NITC's board of directors who decided on the appointment of the chairman and CEO, and believed he had the &quot;required qualifications as well as the capability&quot;.
<br /> TRACKING, TANZANIA AND TUVALU
<br /> As sanctions on Iran have gathered pace, including an EU embargo on the Islamic Republic's oil, NITC is increasingly playing a major role in transporting Iranian crude with the tanker group having to adapt.
<br /> Earlier this year, tracking transponders on many NITC vessels were switched off, making it harder to monitor ship movements.
<br /> There is nothing to stop the renaming or re-flagging of a vessel and specific regulations are at the discretion of individual flag states.
<br /> Tanzania said earlier this month it was looking into the reflagging of some NITC tankers to the Tanzanian flag, while prominent U.S. lawmaker Howard Berman urged Tuvalu to stop reflagging Iranian tankers and warned its government of the risks of falling foul of U.S. sanctions.
<br /> Officials from Tuvalu, whose estimated population is under 15,000, could not be immediately reached for comment.
<br /> &quot;It's not easy being NITC at the moment and they are trying to do whatever they can to stay in business,&quot; another ship industry source said. &quot;It's a cat-and-mouse game and they cannot continue the way they could even a couple of months ago, let alone two years ago.&quot; 
<br /> Source: Reuters<br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Marine electronic highway IT systems handed over to Indonesia<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>The Marine Electronic Highway (MEH) Information Technology System for the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, which had been managed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), has been handed over to the Government of Indonesia in a formal ceremony in Batam, Indonesia, marking the final stages of a demonstration project and the potential move towards a full-scale MEH project in the Straits, under the ownership of the littoral States.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;
<br /> IMO Secretary-General Mr. Koji Sekimizu formally handed over the Batam MEH IT System to Mr. Leon Muhamad, Director General of the Directorate General of Sea Transportation (DGST), Indonesia, during a special ceremony on Friday (3 August 2012),which was also attended by representatives from ministries and agencies of Indonesia, the Local Government of Batam, the Marine Department of&nbsp; Malaysia, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs of the Republic of Korea, the International Hydrographic Organization, Nippon Maritime Center and the shipping industry.
<br /> “What we are handing over today is a functioning facility that harnesses the power of information technology to assist safe navigation through a defined and limited part of the Straits,” Mr. Sekimizu said.
<br /> The Batam MEH IT System is one of the major deliverables of the MEH Demonstration Project, which has been under implementation since 2006, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF)/International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) (World Bank),with IMO as the executing agency. The Republic of Korea, through the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM), also provided a grant amounting to US$850,000, which was used to develop and establish the system. &nbsp;
<br /> The overall objective of the demonstration project has been to determine whether a full-scale MEH in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore can be economically justified and made financially feasible. The project is a co-operative arrangement with the three littoral States of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, in partnership with the Republic of Korea, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (INTERTANKO) and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).
<br /> The geographic boundary of the MEH Demonstration Project extends from One Fathom Bank in the Malacca Strait to Horsburgh Lighthouse in the Singapore Strait, including adjacent coastal provinces/states of Indonesia, peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.&nbsp; This covers the whole traffic separation scheme for the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.
<br /> The MEH Demonstration Project has been extended until the end of 2012, so that all its tasks can be completed and technical and financial evaluations of the Batam facility can be carried out.&nbsp; Indonesia now takes on the responsibility for the operation, maintenance and management of the MEH IT System in Batam, while also working closely with Malaysia and Singapore on the regional MEH system beyond the demonstration phase. 
<br /> Funding from the World Bank has been allocated to Indonesia in order to accelerate the implementation of activities that will enhance the safety of navigation along the Sumatran coast of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore by putting in place the relevant maritime safety infrastructure, not only to provide data to the MEH IT System but also to enhance the monitoring and management of the Indonesian coasts of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.
<br /> “This handover of the MEH IT System to the DGST is a great opportunity for Indonesia to step up as one of the key partners in the establishment of a regional MEH System, together with Malaysia and Singapore,” Mr. Sekimizu said. 
<br /> “We stand here today, not at the end of an initiative, but at the beginning of a wonderful new opportunity to help usher shipping into a new era of safety, efficiency and environmental sensitivity. For me, the development of the maritime infrastructure and the move towards new and improved ways of achieving enhanced navigation and traffic control are among the pillars of sustainable maritime development,” Mr. Sekimizu said.
<br /> “I firmly believe that the Marine Electronic Highway can be a great success – indeed, that it can provide a blueprint for similar schemes in other parts of the world; and that, collectively, they can have a massive beneficial effect on our global society which depends so much on the safe, secure, efficient and green carriage of trade, by sea”, Mr. Sekimizu said.
<br /> &nbsp;It is anticipated that the next steps in the creation of the MEH will involve Malaysia and Singapore establishing MEH Data Centres to house and operate MEH IT Systems similar to the Batam MEH IT System, in order to establish a regional network, to be called the MEH System.&nbsp; &nbsp;
<br /> The Marine Electronic Highway of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore
<br /> The Straits of Malacca and Singapore, situated between Sumatra and the Malay peninsula, are approximately 1,000 kilometres long, 300 kilometres wide at their north-west entrance, and just 12 kilometres wide at their south-east entrance, between Singapore and Indonesia’s Riau Archipelago. 
<br /> The Straits are shallow, with narrow channels, irregular tides and shifting bottom topography, and hence are hazardous to navigation for large ships. Despite their difficult navigational features, the Straits are the shortest and hence the preferred shipping route between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, and for oil tankers trading between the Persian Gulf and East Asia. 
<br /> The MEH system has both maritime safety and environmental modules.&nbsp; Its environmental modules can be used in marine pollution response and control, for example, to predict the direction and speed of oil spills, and thereby assist in response and clean-up operations. It is also possible to use it to identify and track ships that illegally discharge their bilges or dump other oily wastes. 
<br /> Registered users can access data on maritime traffic in the Straits, and on wind, tides and currents, as well as electronic navigational chart (ENC)-based marine information overlays (MIOs), such as those indicating mangroves, coral reefs, special areas, etc.&nbsp; (MIOs are spatial layers that, when overlaid on to an ENC at specific coordinates, provide additional information on that particular area in the ENC. For example, a tropical island generally has advancing foreshore mangrove forests and, in ENC, the areal extent of each mangrove forest is not delineated. However, it is delineated in an MIO and, when overlaid on the ENC, it provides added spatial information. This is useful in protected waters or areas designated as special areas).
<br /> Databases using Oracle store data received by the MEH IT System, including information on casualty incidents, maritime traffic conditions and weather.&nbsp; These can be accessed at any time but not as real-time data sets.
<br /> Data feed and exchange are carried out between the MEH Data Centre in Batam, Malaysia (Marine Department) and Singapore (Maritime and Port Authority).
<br /> Source: IMO<br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Milaha increases net profit to QR 441 mn for H1 2012<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>Qatar Navigation (Milaha) Q.S.C. announced its financial results for the first half of 2012, ending June 30th. 
<br /> Summary financial results are as follows:
<br /> •&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Operating revenues of QR 1.164 billion vs. QR 1.159 billion for the same period in 2011, an increase of 0.4% year over year.
<br /> •&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Operating Profit of QR 320 million vs. QR 300 million for the same period in 2011, an increase of 6.6% year over year.
<br /> •&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Net Profit of QR 441 million vs. QR 418 million for the same period in 2011, an increase of 5.5% year over year.
<br /> •&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Earnings per share of QR 3.85 vs. QR 3.65 for the same period in 2011.
<br /> Milaha’s Maritime &amp; Logistics segment showed strongly improved results vs. H1 2011, driven by Port Services and Container Feedering activities.
<br /> Continued weakness in product tanker rates and a weak first quarter for LPG rates resulted in lower net profit for the Gas &amp; Petrochem segment relative to 2011; however the segment’s performance improved significantly from Q1 2012.
<br /> Milaha’s Offshore segment declined year-on-year due to the overhang from a weak first quarter in 2012, despite a stronger performance in the second quarter.
<br /> &nbsp;“Our core businesses had a mixed first half as we’d expected, with gains in our regional maritime activities partially offsetting the difficult global environment in ocean transport and a decline in offshore services,” said Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani, Chairman and Managing Director of Milaha. “The performance of our reserve portfolio of investments acted as a strong buffer for the group during the first half.”
<br /> Beginning Q1 2012, Milaha began reporting segment financials under its new structure, following the re-alignment of the company into a corporate entity and strategic business pillars. The company will conduct an investor conference call on August 8th, 2012, to further discuss its results.
<br /> Source: Qatar Navigation (Milaha)<br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>BAHRI announces that its 60 percent owned subsidiary Bahri Dry Bulk has started operations<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>The National shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) announces that its 60 percent owned subsidiary Bahri Dry Bulk has started its operations by chartering in two Kamsarmax Dry Bulk Ships to serve its customers grain import requirements into the Kingdom. The time chartered vessels start on Saturday the 4th of August 2012 &amp; are contracted for periods of 17-21 months.
<br /> The vessels are sub-let to Bahris joint venture partner, Arabian Agricultural Services Company (ARASCO) and will be employed to transport Grains and Grain products into Saudi Arabia from South and North Americas and other exporting countries.
<br /> The financial impact of these time-charters on the company revenue will appear starting from the third quarter of the current year.
<br /> The company plans to increase the number of units to five ships, and continue to work in this order until delivery of its 5 new buildings under construction which are expected to be delivered in sequence starting from the fourth quarter of 2013 throughout the first half of 2014.
<br /> Source: BAHRI (National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia)
<br /><br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Waiver Allows Freight Carrier to Convert Ships to LNG<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>A conditional Emission Control Areas waiver has been granted to Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE), allowing the shipping company to use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a means of complying with new rules to reduce air pollution from ships. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Coast Guard announced the approval of the waiver today.
<br /> The waiver will give Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE) four years to convert its two Alaska-bound ships to liquefied natural gas, instead of having to switch immediately to more costly fuel. 
<br /> The waiver will enable TOTE to develop and convert its two ORCA-class vessels, already the “greenest” ships in the U.S. domestic fleet, to the use of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as their primary fuel source. The conversion will advance technology and accelerate the use of natural gas as a cleaner domestic energy source. The ORCA-class vessels ship between Tacoma and Anchorage.
<br /> “When the Orca class vessels were delivered in 2003, they were purpose-built to serve the Alaska market and exceeded all regulatory and environmental standards. Post LNG conversion, the Orca vessels will again set a new standard for environmental responsibility. These changes will provide benefits to the residents of Alaska well into the 21st century,” said John Parrott, President of TOTE.
<br /> To Totem Ocean Trailer Express’ knowledge, this will be the first conversion in the world of vessels of this type according to spokesperson John E. Graykowski. In addition to exceeding the sulfur reduction goals of ECA by 95 percent, when the TOTE ships are converted, they will achieve significant emissions reductions in all other categories of emissions: particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxide (NOX) and carbon dioxide (CO2); making these ships among the cleanest in the world. More importantly, these broader benefits will continue to accrue and compound over the next thirty years or longer. The shore side LNG infrastructure that is to accompany TOTE’s plan may help other transportation industries in Puget Sound follow TOTE in converting to LNG. This could result in a significant increase in air quality throughout the Puget Sound region.
<br /> U. S. Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) said, “I commend TOTE for its innovative thinking and applaud EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard for having the flexibility to come to this agreement regarding the North American Emission Control Area (ECA).&quot;
<br /> Begich said, “The permit will help protect Alaskans from increased shipping costs, expand the market for natural gas, and ultimately lead to even cleaner air than ECA requires.&nbsp; TOTE’s project will be the first major use of LNG as a ship fuel in the United States, and others in the maritime industry are sure to follow the path that TOTE will be blazing. 
<br /> “This means the effects of expanded natural gas use, more economical shipping and cleaner air, will be multiplied many times over,&quot; said Begich.
<br /> Begich said,&nbsp; “I was happy to help bring the three parties together and to see the long-term impacts this kind of innovation can have.&nbsp; Instead of endless litigation, this is the kind of teamwork, creativity and regulatory flexibility that we truly need.”
<br /> John Parrott, President of TOTE said, “Senator Begich’s passion for this project and constructive support of it, and the use of natural gas as a commercial maritime shipping fuel, were critical in forming this successful public/private partnership.&quot;
<br /> &quot;This is just the start to a project that will achieve significant environmental benefits.&nbsp; However, the real win is that the use of LNG greatly strengthens our ability to provide the highest levels of service to Alaska,&quot; said Parrott.
<br /> U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) believes the EPA still needs to provide greater flexibility to freight and cruise ship companies. The EPA was a major proponent of including waters off southern and southeastern Alaska in an international Emission Control Areas (ECA), despite the fact that the EPA has no Alaska-specific air quality data to justify the need for the stricter fuel requirements.
<br /> “I have been urging the EPA for months to work with the freight and cruise ship industry to lessen the economic burden that the new ECA rules will impose on Alaskans,” U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said. “While this deal helps one company, it does not address who will pay for the additional investments and costs required for TOTE and others to meet the new fuel standards, a total that could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. My fear is that the total costs of compliance will simply be passed on to Alaskans.” 
<br /> Since 2009, Murkowski has also been pressing EPA to reduce the burden on Alaska in order to avoid causing prices for consumer goods – which predominately arrive by ocean freight – and the cost of visiting Alaska by cruise ship to increase without good reason. 
<br /> Murkowski asked EPA to work with shipping companies doing business in Alaska on a waiver and asked the agency to accept a pilot project that would help both cruise ships and freight haulers to comply with the ECA at lower costs and would require specific air quality monitoring in Alaska. Murkowski sent a letter (attached) to President Obama on Tuesday, calling on the administration to address the issue of increased shipping costs associated with the implementation of the ECA. 
<br /> Prior to the waiver, the EPA's new emission control regulation would have required marine ocean carriers and cruise ships in Southeast and Southcentral Alaska to use fuel that meets 1-percent sulfur limits starting on Aug. 1. The new requirements would tighten even more to 0.1 percent sulfur beginning in 2015.
<br /> The new regulations require marine cargo carriers and cruise lines to use costly and difficult-to-obtain low-sulfur fuel. Applying the new regulations in Southeast Alaska and Southcentral Alaska would have meant greatly increased shipping costs to Alaskans and to harm the state’s tourism sector. Freight carriers said EPA’s new requirements if enforced in Alaska would force them to raise their rates on goods being transported to the state.
<br /> In July, the State of Alaska filed suit against the Secretary of State, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, and others, to block the federal agencies from extending the North American Emissions Control Area (ECA) to Alaska. The EPA and the Coast Guard, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, had planned to enforce the EPA’s new emission control regulations beginning Aug. 1, 2012.
<br /> Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE), one of Alaska’s largest shipping companies, estimated that moving to the required low sulfur fuel required by the new regulations would result in an increase of about 8 percent in TOTE’s total costs. The increased shipping costs would be passed on to Alaska consumers in the form of higher prices for goods, raising Alaskans’ already high cost of living even higher. 
<br /> “This is the first permit issued under the Annex VI, Regulation 3 program, and it is tangible evidence that when committed organizations join together, innovative solutions can result,” said Phil Morrell, Vice President of Marine and Terminal Operations at TOTE.
<br /> Source: SitNews
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<br /><br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Slow steaming, uphill<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>It never rains but it pours for the shipping industry. Since the great recession began in 2009 its troubles have multiplied: first came a price war among operators of container lines; then a slump in rates for chartering the giant bulk vessels that transport coal, iron and grain around the world; and now it has to cope with a glut of all types of vessels, as ships ordered in the boom times are launched into the slump.
<br /> A recent report from Clarkson Research Services highlights the effects on investors who have bought ships as alternatives to conventional assets: the price of a five-year-old Capesize (ie, the type of vessel that sails round Africa because it is too big for the Suez or Panama canals, pictured) has fallen about 80%, from a record high of $33m four years ago. The price of large oil tankers has dropped more than 60%.
<br /> The high oil price of recent years has been an additional pain. Container shipping companies saw their profits of around $7 billion in 2010 turn to losses of about $5 billion last year. One response to the high cost of fuel and the abundance of ships has been to adopt &quot;slow steaming&quot; which means cutting speeds from around 20 knots to around 17 knots to save fuel. Extra vessels are added to the &quot;string&quot;so that the same level of service can be provided. The glut of ships means that they can be chartered cheaply: some daily rates have slumped more than 90%.
<br /> As the crisis worsened some lines have even opted for &quot;super slow&quot; steaming, which means 15 knots or less. Alas, this has turned out to bring its own problems as time goes by. Consistently sailing so slowly is damaging the giant engines designed to be operated at a higher rate. &quot;It’s a bit like driving your car uphill in top gear,&quot; says one shipping executive. &quot;It might keep going but it adds to wear on the bearings.&quot; But relief is on the horizon: oil companies such as Shell are rushing to bring to market better lubricating oils that reduce wear and work equally well in all climates.
<br /> Source: Economist<br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>New North American rules on cleaner ship fuel take effect<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>A long-planned environmental regulation requiring ships to use cleaner, low-sulfur fuel while operating near the North American coast took effect on Wednesday, despite concerns that suppliers may not be ready.
<br /> The North American Emissions Control Area (ECA) will see the world's top oil consumer join other regions like the European Union in imposing sulfur limits on marine fuel, typically the most polluting of all oil products. The ECA sets a cap at just 1 percent sulfur within 200 miles of the coast versus a 3 percent standard in the past.
<br /> The shipping industry says the new norms may cause a sharp rise in prices as refiners pass on the higher cost of producing cleaner fuel. Some worry that not all will be prepared.
<br /> &quot;We'll know in a couple of weeks or a month whether (availability) will be an issue,&quot; said Chris Koch, president of the World Shipping Council, a trade association based in Washington, D.C. and Brussels, that represents the global liner shipping sector of container ships and car carriers.
<br /> &quot;The EPA and the Coast Guard have worked together very closely on this. They realize that if a ship can't find the fuel, OK they can't find the fuel.&quot;
<br /> The Environmental Protection Agency, which will regulate the program, said in its initial rule published over two years ago that the overall cost of the scheme would come to $3.2 billion by 2020. The Office of Transportation and Air Quality said it will prevent as many as 14,000 premature deaths by reducing nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and fine particulate matter.
<br /> &quot;But it's been something that everybody recognized would be undertaken and approved to improve air quality in North America,&quot; said Koch. &quot;It's not a surprise. It's an environmental regulation whose time has come.&quot;
<br /> ALASKA SUES
<br /> The United States consumed about 500,000 barrels a day (bpd) of bunker fuel in 2010, accounting for less than 3 percent of the country's total oil use, according to government data. Some 390,000 bpd of that was fuel oil, mostly higher-sulfur.
<br /> Refiners have already invested billions in new equipment to reduce production of low-margin residual fuel, demand for which has nearly halved over the past decade as power plants, industrial users and even households cut back in the face of rising oil prices and tougher environmental requirements. Ships now account for some three-quarters of all U.S. fuel oil use.
<br /> Refiners will now need to work even harder to strip more sulfur out of the residual fuel, causing prices to rise.
<br /> Koch said the price of low-sulfur fuel might up the cost of fuel by $60 to $90 a tonne, depending on the port.
<br /> The cruise ship industry has proposed alternatives to more costly low-sulfur fuel that include innovative exhaust scrubbers, using alternative energy sources such as shore power in port, adjusting ship speeds, and averaging based on air quality effects on population, according to a July statement by the International Cruise Lines Industry Association.
<br /> The state of Alaska has fiercely objected to the new emissions controls, filing a lawsuit in July against the Obama Administration to block enforcement in Alaskan waters, arguing that higher costs of shipping will hurt the state's cruise ship tourism and economy as a whole.
<br /> &quot;Increased regulation of these vessels increases the costs of bringing goods to Alaska, in effect operating as a tax on all Alaskans,&quot; according to the lawsuit.
<br /> Alaska officials argue in the lawsuit that the agreement on shipping emissions-control between the United States and Canada is an unlawful treaty, according to court documents.
<br /> They also argue that there was no scientific basis for extending it to Alaska since the EPA's air-quality modeling extends only to the Lower 48 states, the documents show.
<br /> The specifications tighten again in 2015 to just 0.1 percent sulfur, a level that Oceanox -- a company that sells special equipment called scrubbers that reduce sulfur in shipping fuel -- says will render fuel oil all but obsolete.
<br /> &quot;This change will necessitate vessels either switching to marine gasoil or modifying engines to consume LNG or installing post combustion exhaust gas cleaning equipment,&quot; it says.
<br /> Source: Reuters<br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>The future is LNG; but the countdown is on for shipping lines<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>This week – Wednesday – saw another milestone (or millstone, depending on your perspective on climate change, air pollution, global warming and so on) in the regulation of shipping emissions after the US introduced the first stage of its emission control areas (ECAs).
<br /> The new laws mean that vessels within 200 miles of the US coastline will not be able to burn fuel with higher than a 1% amount of sulphur oxide (SOx) content. This by itself is not particularly groundbreaking: the same regulation has been in place in the European ECAs – the English Channel, North and Baltic Seas – since 2010 and can be achieved through blending traditional heavy fuel oil (HFO) with distillate diesel fuel.
<br /> That is not to say that it is without its problems – the International Chamber of Shipping has reported that blending these fuels have caused some problems with contaminations and cat fines (no, nothing to do with four-legged variety; cat fines is short for catalytic fines – porcelain-like particles used as a catalyst in petroleum refining, which can cause high abrasive wear to piston rings and cylinder liners).
<br /> What the introduction of the 1% rules will throw up is an indication of the costs of compliance; the availability of the correct fuel; and what the authorities’ response is likely to be in the event of a vessel not complying with the new regulations.
<br /> It is too early to supply readers with answers to these questions. Chris Koch, chief executive of the shipping lobby organisation the World Shipping Council, believes that it will take at least a couple of weeks for possible issues to work their way through the system.
<br /> Nonetheless, the importance of the answers to these questions lies in the approaching 2015 deadline, when Europe will further reduce the maximum sulphur content to 0.1% in its ECAs, which will be almost impossible to achieve with blending, leaving shipping companies with three choices – use distillate fuel; retrofit emissions-cleaning scrubber technology or use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an alternative fuel.
<br /> The International Chamber of Shipping has called for an urgent study to be undertaken to assess the future availability of distillate fuel, but the early prognosis doesn’t look good because most forecasts estimate a lack of global refining capacity to produce enough distillate fuel to satisfy expected demand for shipping, while following up behind 2015 is 2020, when new International Maritime Organization legislation will limit all ships globally to burning fuel with not more than a 0.5% SOx content, putting further pressure on refining capacity.
<br /> “It is essential that a global fuel availability study is carried out sufficiently in advance of 2020 in order to give the refiners adequate time to invest and react. The major refinery upgrading required could take a minimum four or five years, perhaps longer, and we fear that completing the study in 2018 would simply be too late,” said ICS secretary general Peter Hinchcliffe recently.
<br /> But not everyone has their brows so furrowed with worry. A recent study by German ship register Germanischer Lloyd and engine manufacturer MAN on using LNG as a fuel concluded that a vessel in the 2,500-4,600teu range, operating for 65% of its time within an ECA, would pay back the investment in converting to LNG in less than two years.
<br /> “We think that the smaller sized vessels will be the focus for LNG designs, and we are optimistic that we will see shipowners who are going to take first-mover advantage,” a GL spokesman told The Loadstar.
<br /> He said that GL had everything in place to certify a LNG-fuelled vessel, while South Korean shipbuilder DSME, in conjunction with German ship designers, had at least two designs that are simply waiting for an order.
<br /> The stumbling block remains the lack of LNG bunkering infrastructure in the ECAs, but could the experience of introducing a new ECA in the US and the problems it throws up impel others to more seriously launch LNG facilities?
<br /> Source: The Loadstar
<br /><br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Gunmen kidnap four foreigners off Nigeria<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>Gunmen attacked a barge belonging to an oil services company off the coast of Nigeria on Saturday, killing two Nigerian sailors and kidnapping four foreigners, officials said.
<br /> The suspected sea pirates stormed the vessel in the Gulf of Guinea, an area that has seen a sharp spike in the number of reported marine attacks over the last six months.
<br /> A spokeswoman for Sea Trucks Group, which provides support vessels to oil companies operating in Nigeria, told AFP that one of the company's ships came under fire and that the firm's employees were taken in the raid.
<br /> &quot;At this time Sea Trucks Group is making every effort to ascertain the whereabouts of its personnel,&quot; the spokeswoman, Corrie van Kessel, told AFP.
<br /> Nigeria's navy spokesman Commodore Kabir Aliyu said during the attack &quot;four expatriates are reported to have been kidnapped from the vessel; two sailors were killed.&quot;
<br /> He said those kidnapped were from Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia and Thailand.
<br /> The attack, which also left two other seamen injured, took place at roughly 0100 on Saturday, 35 nautical miles off Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta coastal area, the navy and company said.
<br /> Aliyu told AFP that the motive of the attack had not yet been established and that so far there has not been any communication with the gunmen.
<br /> The volatile area was for years crippled by armed insurgency, largely made up of militants from the Delta who claimed that the region's people were not benefiting from its vast oil wealth, while crude production devastated the environment.
<br /> Armed groups in the Delta were notorious for kidnapping oil workers. A 2009 amnesty deal greatly reduced the unrest, but sporadic incidents have continued to occur including robberies and, most prominently, piracy.
<br /> The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said in a report released last month that there had been 32 piracy incidents recorded in the Gulf of Guinea in the first half of 2012, up from the 25 attacks in 2011.
<br /> Many of the raids have involved &quot;high levels of violence,&quot; kidnappings, and were increasingly occurring further offshore, the report added.
<br /> An IMB official said attacks in the area have been under-reported for several years.
<br /> On July 27, suspected sea pirates attacked a vessel transporting workers for Italian firm Agip in the Delta's Bayelsa state, leaving at least one person dead.
<br /> Aliyu told AFP that six naval personnel were stationed on board the Sea Trucks Group vessel following a security request from the company.
<br /> Van Kessel explained that Sea Trucks Group is heavily involved in the oil and gas sector in the Delta, but declined to comment on the specific activities of the fired-on ship.
<br /> She further said that two of the company's vessels came under attack, although the navy insisted only one ship was involved.
<br /> Sea Trucks Group, which also operates in Australia and East Asia, was founded as a Nigerian firm in 1977 before expanding and currently has a &quot;corporate support office&quot; in the Netherlands, according to its website.
<br /> Years of unrest in the Delta had curbed oil production in Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer and the world's eighth largest, but output has recovered since the amnesty.
<br /> On Friday, Nigeria said oil production had hit its highest level ever, reaching 2.7 million barrels per day.
<br /> Source: AFP<br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Most container ships arrive on time, but delivery to customer lags<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>An ocean carrier's reliability usually is measured on whether its ships arrived in port according to published schedules. But importers and customs brokers have long known that just because a ship is at the dock on the right day, that doesn't mean containers will reach consignees on time.
<br /> A new report from the Inttra e-commerce network for the ocean shipping industry and SeaIntel Maritime Analysis, a provider of container shipping industry analysis, documents and quantifies that disconnect. The gap between vessel arrival and container delivery reliability can be substantial indeed. The most egregious case was the Europe to Australia/New Zealand trade lane, where vessel reliability for direct service is 88 percent, but on-time container delivery is only 36 percent—a whopping 52 percentage-point difference.
<br /> Overall, vessel on-time performance averaged 81 percent globally. On the world's busiest lanes, the Asia-to-Europe and Asia-to-North America trades, container delivery was 8 to 10 percentage points lower than the vessel reliability. The report also found significant signs of improvement. In the Asia-to-Europe trade, on-time container delivery rose from 65 percent in 2011 to 74 percent so far in 2012. During that same period, in the Asia to Mediterranean trade, performance improved from 46 percent in 2011 to 68 percent in 2012.
<br /> The researchers conducted trade-lane analyses that compared vessel arrival reliability, based on SeaIntel's measurements, with the actual container delivery reliability, based on Inttra's data. They looked at close to a million container-status messages processed daily by Inttra, representing more than 18 percent of the world's total container shipments. The partners say this is the first research to combine on-time performance and schedule reliability measures at both the vessel and container level, providing both shippers and carriers with the ability to analyze actual container delivery time versus vessel arrival time at the country and trade-lane level.
<br /> Source: DC Velocity
<br /><br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Bunker price tumbles, taking rates along for the ride<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>The oil price should be taken into account when looking into falling freight rates, believes a market analyst.
<br /> SeaIntel’s Lars Jensen raised an interesting point in the market intelligence outfit’s Sunday Spotlight. He said the rate to ship a container on Asia-Europe would decline by US$165 per TEU in June, July and August compared to the May levels.
<br /> However, rather than indicating continuing weakness in the market, Jensen believes it is merely a reflection of declining bunker fuel prices that have dropped by $150 per tonne in the last two months. He said 26 percent of the recent decline was because of falling bunker prices.
<br /> When it comes to supply-demand or rate discipline, not much has changed.
<br /> The fall in operating costs is good news for the beleaguered container carriers struggling to fill too many ships with too few goods. With fuel comprising the bulk of the cost of operating a vessel on a long haul route – and BAF charges only covering a small portion of the fuel burned – any drop in price is immediately removed from the bottom line.
<br /> The challenge now is for the lines to find a way to get more top line revenue coming in, which means raising freight rates. 
<br /> In a blog last week, we questioned whether a recent spate of GRIs would stick. But considering that the overall rates have come down because of falling fuel prices, the market may be more receptive to the general rates increase being proposed than it was earlier in the year.
<br /> Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that a cascade of 10,000-plus TEU capacity ships are preparing to hit the water before the end of the year. And this at a time when no peak season is expected with Europe mired in debt and the US recovery steady but very slow.
<br /> Even the odd bit of good news in terms of China manufacturing will not translate into good news for container shipping. In July, manufacturing in the mainland grew the most in nine months, according to HSBC’s China purchasing managers index.
<br /> But the rebound, still slightly on the wrong side of the 50 threshold that signifies growth, is a reflection of growing consumer demand inside China. The problem here is that China makes most things so there is no need to use container lines to ship stuff around the country as consumers start to spend more.
<br /> The biggest export markets are still Europe and the US, and until consumers there begin spending more and more often, the lines will continue to struggle against low demand and excess capacity.
<br /> Source: Maritime Professional<br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Pirates tortured us, says freed MV Albedo sailor<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>A Pakistani sailor who was held hostage aboard the MV Albedo by Somali pirates has told of the torture and brutality he and his fellow crew members endured during 21 months of captivity.
<br /> Seven Pakistani hostages were freed on Thursday after a ransom of US$1.1 million (Dh4m) was paid to Somali pirates. The remaining 15 hostages continue to be held captive by the pirates who boarded their Malaysian-flagged cargo vessel in November 2010, while it was en route to a Jebel Ali port.
<br /> Chief Officer Mujtaba said the pirates repeatedly hit them with pipes and with the butt of their AK-47 assault rifles. They also used pliers to rip out the webbing on the sailors' palms, he said.
<br /> &quot;These men are not human. When they hit us, they would not stop. They hit us on the head. Some officers have severe bleeding on the head. One cannot use his left hand, it was damaged in the beating.&quot;
<br /> An Indian sailor in his 20s, who was thought to have died due to a lack of medication last year, was in fact shot in the chest by the pirates, Mr Mujtaba said.
<br /> He was shot after a heated phone conversation with the ship's Malaysian-based Iranian owner.
<br /> &quot;We heard them shouting about threats that the navy would be sent to attack them, that the Indian navy would be sent. They called the boy down and five minutes later, we heard two shots. They called us and said: 'Should we throw the body into the sea or keep him in the fridge?'&quot;
<br /> The crew chose the later, hoping to be able to hand the body over to his family when they were released.
<br /> &quot;If their governments and people do nothing for the 15 other men, they will surely die,&quot; he said.
<br /> The pirates continue to hold 15 sailors - seven Bangladeshi, six Sri Lankans, an Indian and an Iranian.
<br /> Mr Mujtaba said the pirates had used translators to communicate with the sailors, but switched them regularly to prevent the hostages from establishing any rapport with their captors.
<br /> When one of the sailors hid fuel from the pirates, punishment was severe. &quot;They used pliers and pressed it into his palm. They made holes in the skin between his fingers,&quot; said Mr Mujtaba.
<br /> Other torture tactics included keeping certain sailors in solitary confinement inside containers for days without food. The men were also packed into a small swimming pool that had been emptied out.
<br /> &quot;They tortured us a lot,&quot; said Mr Mujtaba. &quot;They would lock all of us into the small swimming pool. We couldn't sit or sleep. We had to stand. For three days they didn't give us any food or let us go to the toilet.&quot;
<br /> Some days, the sailors would draw up plans to overpower the pirates and take back the ship.
<br /> &quot;At first we thought we would be free after three or four months but then it got unbearable,&quot; Mr Mujtaba said. &quot;They made us call our families and put pressure on them. When I heard my wife and children cry ... what father can bear it? I then decided to kill one or two pirates. The others also thought so. We had lost all hope, we knew it would be suicidal, but we thought we should try. If I killed even one, I knew they would not leave me, but I thought I must do something.&quot;
<br /> In a phone call monitored by the pirates, Mr Mujtaba learnt his wife had given birth to son. That strengthened his resolve to live.
<br /> &quot;I held on to my faith. We bore everything they did to us,&quot; he said.
<br /> The freed sailor wept when he saw 17-month-old son Mohammed for the first time, along with his three daughters on Thursday night.
<br /> His daughter Hira, 8, spurred collection efforts when she spoke of not wanting to live if her father died during a nationally-televised appeal in May.
<br /> &quot;I feel so happy to see my children and so sad,&quot; he said. &quot;In my heart I feel bad because other families are still waiting. My appeal is for governments to help. The pirates will not listen to anything, they want money.&quot;
<br /> Source: The National
<br /><br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Sohar tops shipping haulage upsurge<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>The Oman continues to develop itself into a regional powerhouse for shipping and transhipment of dry bulk goods such as iron ore in the third quarter, the latest Business Monitor International (BMI) report informs.
<br /> According to the report, the container throughput at Salalah during 2012 is forecast to reach 3.93mn twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) on growth of 2.2 per cent, and to an average 1.4 per cent growth up to 2016.
<br /> The total tonnage throughput at Sohar forecast in 2012 is likely to reach 13.64mn tonnes, a year-on-year (y-o-y) growth of 12.2 per cent. The growth forecast is likely to average 14.8 per cent over the mid term, boosted by the transfer of Sultan Qaboos cargo operations to the facility and the total trade forecast at 3.3 per cent, and to average 2.0 per cent per annum to 2015, the report adds.
<br /> A new port is being constructed at Duqm and a new cargo terminal at Salalah. The new Duqm port will also boost a new oil refinery.
<br /> The future port development plans include the likelihood of all cargo operations to be moved from the Muscat port to Sohar by the end of 2012.
<br /> This is spurred by the Sultanate's position on the Arabian Sea, outside the Gulf, enabling it to offer shorter shipping lines than ports within the congested body of water. 
<br /> This has led BMI to forecast particularly strong growth at the Port of Sohar in 2012. This will be supported by the promotion of the port by container shipping companies. BMI believes that the Salalah Port is set for a significant growth when the contract for the development of its new general cargo terminal and liquid jetty is awarded. 
<br /> On the basis of the progress of work, BMI believes that the project should be completed by 2016. Once the new terminal is operational, the tonnage volumes at the port will increase significantly.
<br /> In April, Oman's state-owned Oman Shipping Company (OSC) took delivery of a very large crude carrier (VLCC), Bukha, from South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding &amp; Marine Engineering. The vessel's addition has taken the total number of carriers operated by OSC to 35, including 14 VLCCs. It has a total cargo capacity of 317,000 deadweight tonnes and will be technically managed by Dubai-based International Tanker Management. The new VLCC will be deployed in the Singapore-based VL8 Pool.
<br /> The construction of a 230,000 barrels/day refinery in Duqm should help Muscat secure its position as a net products exporter. The establishment of a new downstream hub, combined with the construction of a new harbour in the same city, could help the country break into the liquids bulk market. Worries over ballooning costs, which are still in line with regional norms, are likely to be negated by the numerous advantages offered by this plan.
<br /> The BMI offers services designed to help executives, analysts, researchers assess to better manage operating risks and exploit business opportunities, across 175 markets.
<br /> source: Times of Oman
<br /><br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>London Gateway: Will the UK's new deep sea port sink or swim?<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>A vast deep-sea container port is being built 20 miles down the River Thames from London, in Thurrock, Essex - but how will it fare when it opens next year?
<br /> &quot;According to the GPS [Global Positioning System], we're about 400m [1,300ft] out into the Thames. Here we're on the newest part of England,&quot; says the director of civil engineering at the London Gateway project, Andrew Bowen, as he parks on a recently deposited mound of sand and points to a ship surrounded by pipes in the middle of the Thames.
<br /> &quot;The dredger is just offshore and is pumping material to create the new land,&quot; he says. 
<br /> The dredger is like a floating vacuum cleaner, sucking up sand and silt from the river bed to deepen the river channel ready for large ships. It then deposits the material on the building site to create land on which the deep-sea port can be built.
<br /> London Gateway is being built by the Dubai-owned company DP World at a cost of &pound;1.5bn ($2.35bn), on the site of a former oil refinery in Essex. 
<br /> The first ships should start arriving by the end of next year and when it is completely finished it will be able to unload six of the biggest container ships in the world at the same time. 
<br /> Most of the port's customers will be bringing imported goods from China and the Far East to retailers in the UK.
<br /> London Gateway chief executive Simon Moore says: &quot;We're just 20 miles away from Europe's largest economic zone, so this is the closest that we can really get to London.&quot; 
<br /> He says the London Gateway plan is reminiscent of hundreds of years ago when London had a flourishing port nearer the city.
<br /> &quot;We're bringing London and the UK's hub port back home again to the River Thames.&quot;
<br /> Bad timing? 
<br /> But Neil Davidson, a ports expert with the consultancy company Drewry, who has worked for London Gateway, is cautious about the new London port, which gained planning permission before the global financial crisis hit.
<br /> &quot;The timing isn't ideal because London Gateway is coming on stream just when the economy is flat. And this is one of the problems,&quot; he says. 
<br /> &quot;The public inquiry for London Gateway was 10 years ago. Well, 10 years ago the outlook for the UK container port industry was very, very different.&quot;
<br /> But London Gateway is more than just a port. The developers are also building what they claim will be Europe's biggest logistics park - a huge area set aside for warehouses to handle the imported cargo.
<br /> At the moment, whatever their ultimate destination, most of the goods imported into the UK are taken by road, and some by rail, to big distribution centres in the Midlands, the traditional logistics hub for the country. 
<br /> However, at present some goods are being driven north from southern ports to Midlands distribution points, only to be sent down south again.
<br /> London Gateway is hoping some companies will want to move their distribution centres to the park at the new port and in doing so, change the logistics map of Britain.
<br /> However, whatever gains London Gateway makes, other areas of the UK could lose out - notably the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk, 75 miles away, which has dominated British container trade for the past 30 years. 
<br /> Established rivals 
<br /> Clemence Cheng, managing director of the Central Europe division at Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings, which owns Felixstowe, says it welcomes competition but Felixstowe will still be the bigger port, even when London Gateway is fully finished.
<br /> Felixstowe also recently opened a deep-sea terminal to take the largest vessels.
<br /> Mr Cheng rejects the argument companies will be attracted to London Gateway by its closer proximity to the South East and London.
<br /> &quot;Now when you look at it, will a manufacturer want to take their truck load of cargo on the M25 motorway, [or] through a very congested railway to go back into London?
<br /> &quot;We're the port for Britain. We're not only for London - London is 70 miles away from Felixstowe - but we're servicing the entire country.&quot; 
<br /> The ports get their business from the giant shipping lines that use them, but London Gateway has not yet signed up any shipping companies as clients. 
<br /> The Danish-owned Maersk is the biggest container ship operator in the world, but it is currently committed to Felixstowe.
<br /> Maersk's UK and Ireland operations manager, Mark Cornwell, says London Gateway will be &quot;an outstanding facility&quot;, but Maersk remains committed to Felixstowe.
<br /> The world economic outlook is uncertain for everyone at the moment and the shipping industry is facing a tough year. 
<br /> However, some British ports, such as the Port of Tyne in the north-east of England, have produced record profits in recent years and ports expert Neil Davidson is confident the prospects for ports are better than for their shipping-sector customers.
<br /> &quot;Container shipping is a much more homogenous industry, whereas ports are much more unique in what they can offer, and the profitability reflects that.&quot; 
<br /> Source: BBC News<br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>More cargo, cleaner air at the Port of Los Angeles<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>Air pollution from Port-related sources continues to drop as cargo rebounds at the Port of Los Angeles. New data shows that from 2005 to 2011, cumulative harmful emissions at America’s No. 1 trade gateway plunged as much as 76 percent while container volumes increased 6 percent. On a year-to-year basis, there has been a decrease up to 7 percent of harmful emissions.
<br /> The latest data also shows the Port is three years ahead of year 2014 targets it set for reducing two key pollutants – diesel particulate matter (DPM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) – and the Port is on track to meet more stringent 2023 emission reduction goals.
<br /> “Cargo volume is growing and air pollution is shrinking,” said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. “By growing sustainably, we’re moving the needle in the right direction for our economy and our quality of life.”
<br /> Released today, the Port’s 2011 Inventory of Air Emissions reflects the increasing sustainability of operations at the Port, said Port Executive Director Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D. The substantial investment the Port and its partners have made in clean air continues to pay off, she said.
<br /> “By developing and executing our Clean Air Action Plan and fine-tuning our pollution reduction strategies on a regular basis, we are cutting harmful air emissions from ships, trains, trucks, harbor craft and cargo-handling equipment while operating a prosperous, world-class seaport,” said Knatz. “Our customers and industry stakeholders – which run the operations that keep the cargo moving through Los Angeles – also play a substantial role in this positive trend through their investments in cleaner equipment and more sustainable practices.”
<br /> The new Inventory of Air Emissions reports data from the 2011 calendar year and compares it with data collected annually since the baseline year of 2005. The data shows the Port has achieved the greatest clean air gains in reducing emissions of sulfur oxides (SOx). SOx emissions, as measured in metric tons, plummeted 76 percent over the seven-year period.
<br /> Over the same period, the Port slashed DPM emissions 71 percent and emissions from related pollutants (PM10 and PM2.5) 71 percent and 69 percent while NOx emissions dropped 51 percent. SOx and NOx are key components of smog, and DPM is an identified toxic air contaminant and known carcinogen.
<br /> The findings also reflect the Port’s success in cutting greenhouse gas emissions associated with climate change. From 2005 to 2011, carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions – a measure of CO2, nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) emissions combined – fell 19 percent. View the 2011 Air Quality Report Card here.
<br /> Clean-air strategies building on the Port’s success include its Vessel Speed Reduction Program; low-sulfur fuel requirements for ships; the Clean Truck Program whose final ban on drayage trucks with pre-2007 engines took effect Jan. 1, 2012; engine retrofits and gradual vessel replacement of older harbor craft; retrofit and turnover of cargo handling equipment; and replacement of older rail equipment with cleaner line haul and switcher locomotives.
<br /> The inventory uses detailed records of the age and activity of vessels, trucks, trains and yard equipment to measure emissions. Calculations are based on a methodology developed in collaboration with regional, state and federal air regulatory agencies to ensure accuracy and credibility.
<br /> To validate the trend in decreasing air pollution, emissions are also calculated on a per-unit-of-cargo basis, which accounts for fluctuations in cargo volumes. On a ton per 10,000 TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) basis, the seven-year gains are even more significant: 77 percent reduction in SOx; 73 percent reduction in DPM and PM10; 71 percent reduction in PM2.5; 54 percent reduction in NOx; and 24 percent reduction in CO2 equivalent emissions.
<br /> Based on the 2011 data, the Port is in line to meet self-imposed goals of cutting DPM emissions 72 percent and has exceeded its goal of curbing NOx emissions 22 percent by 2014. The data also shows the Port is close to achieving its 2023 standards of reducing DPM emissions 77 percent; NOx emissions 59 percent; and SOx emissions 93 percent.
<br /> Overall, the 2011 inventory confirms that regional air pollution attributable to Port operations is shrinking. In 2011, 9 percent of all SOx emissions in the South Coast Air Basin were associated with Port operations – a nearly two-thirds drop from 25 percent in 2005. Likewise, DPM emissions from the Port as a percentage of total DPM in the region shrunk to 3 percent in 2011 – down from 10 percent in 2005. NOx emissions from Port-related sources were 3 percent in 2011 – down from 5 percent in 2005.
<br /> The data documents the Port’s forward momentum and steadfast commitment to reducing – and eliminating, whenever possible – all harmful air emissions associated with its operations. “There’s no turning back,” said Knatz. “The benefits of environmental stewardship are clear and the Port will continue to lead the industry by growing green through innovation and collaboration with our stakeholders and partners.”
<br /> The Port of Los Angeles is America’s premier port and has a strong commitment to developing innovative strategic and sustainable operations that benefit the economy as well as the quality of life for the region and the nation it serves. As the leading seaport in North America in terms of shipping container volume and cargo value, the Port generates more than 830,000 regional jobs and $35 billion in annual wages and tax revenues. The Port of Los Angeles – A cleaner port. A brighter future.
<br /> Source: Port of Los Angeles<br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Indian private sector will invest in ports in Sri Lanka: Commerce minister<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>India expressed its keenness to invest in development of war-torn Sri Lanka in a big way for which it promised to rope in private players in sectors like ports and exploration of oil and gas.
<br /> Commerce minister Anand Sharma, who is here on an official visit, also reaffirmed India's commitment to building infrastructure and institutions in Sri Lanka during his talks with the country's leadership here.
<br /> Sharma also said both countries reviewed the bilateral ties with reference to rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced Tamil civilians.
<br /> &quot;Sri Lanka government is appreciative of India's solidarity and efforts and ongoing efforts to rebuild areas which were destroyed in conflict and in rehabilitation of people,&quot; Sharma told reporters here.
<br /> India has been involved in a number of developmental projects in Sri Lanka as part of its efforts to rebuild the country after the end of the civil war in 2009.
<br /> The country is also building nearly 50,000 houses for displaced civilians in Tamil-dominated Northern Province.
<br /> Sharma said Indian companies will be more than wiling to upgrade ports in Sri Lanka.
<br /> &quot;Also they are wiling to be a major partner in oil and gas exploration. An offer has been given by OVL. Also IOC is keen to develop oil refinery here,&quot; he said.
<br /> The minister also said the government will ask all banks in India to help the private sector companies willing to invest in Sri Lanka.
<br /> India has also re-built several schools damaged during the decades-old civil war. It is also involved in empowering the Tamil civilians and helping them in a number of ways.
<br /> Yesterday, Sharma had said that India will provide assistance to Sri Lanka for setting up a manufacturing zone for producing engineering and auto component goods to help the neighbouring country improve exports.
<br /> The two countries, the Mminister said, have also decided to set up a skill training institute at Trincomalee.
<br /> Sharma is here to attend the 'India Show' here, leading a group of over 200 Indian CEOs to Colombo for the third 'India Show' organised by CII in Sri Lanka.
<br /> Over 108 Indian companies are showcasing a wide range of products and services, including automobile, engineering, infrastructure, tourism, food processing, ICT, financial services, pharmaceuticals and education at Colombo's Bandaranaika Memorial International Conference Hall.
<br /> Source: PTI<br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>NIMASA optimistic over Nigeria as maritime hub, as Reps’ committee promises support<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has said that the chance of Nigeria to attain the maritime hub of Africa and a big global player in the shipping industry is very bright.
<br /> Its director General, Patrick Akpobolokemi said that the only way the agency could achieve its mandate was the continue support given by the House of Representatives of Nigeria.
<br /> Speaking shortly after a ceremonial patrol of part of the Lagos coastal waters by the members of the House of Representatives Committee on Marine Transport in a recently acquired platforms, Akpobolokemi lauded the lawmakers for approving most the capital projects the agency requested for in the 2012 budget, saying that capacity building was key to the realization of the renewed mandate of the agency to reposition the Nigerian maritime industry to be&nbsp; a global, big employer of labour and heavy contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Capital.
<br /> Earlier, the Operations Officer of the Global West Vessel Specialists Limited, Captain Romeo Itima revealed that four of such boats were being expected, even as the new one tested by the House of Reps Marine committee was capable of going up to 200 nautical miles into the Atlantic Ocean.
<br /> He said: “That is where most of the crimes and illegalities are going on. Under the Maritime Guard Command (MGC), we have already arrested several vessels that were yet to be brought to the shores.
<br /> “What we are doing now is to arrest all the vessels that are not registered in the Nigerian cabotage register. Most of them are already rust buckets and cannot trade. They are the vessels used for illegal oil business. When we get all of them out, we would have reduced illegal bunkering drastically.”
<br /> He further noted that piracy had been reduced to as low as 80 percent in the Lagos area, even as same had not been achieved in the eastern coasts of the country because all the needed platforms that would enable the Command cover the whole of the country, had not yet arrived. 
<br /> Itima stressed: “Lagos is a test case, when we spread to the entire nation’s coasts, we will be able to stamp out piracy and all illegalities in the Nigerian waters.”
<br /> Meanwhile, the committee’s chairman, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi had assured NIMASA would be diligently considered when the members return to their Chamber in Abuja.
<br /> &nbsp;He charged the management of the agency to look out for best of tools needed to make Nigeria the focal point of maritime trade in the world, saying the committee would always give its support in that regard. 
<br /> He noted that “Nigerian is a reference point in the world and we cannot afford to play the second fiddle globally, in this critical sector. NIMASA must go for the best and we shall give all the support.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;
<br /> Flagging-off its two-day visit to the headquarters of NIMASA, Chairman of the committee, Ugwuanyi disclosed that the committee members were in Lagos to look into the execution of capital projects so far implemented by NIMASA.
<br /> Ugwuanyi said that the law makers were interested in NIMASA capital projects especially the one involving the recent Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements under the agency.
<br /> Source: WorldStage News<br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Kinder Morgan To Delay Port Westward Coal Terminal Project<br/>/////////////////////////<br/>Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMP) is slowly positioning to gain on the growing demand for coal exports through its terminals along Gulf Coast but its strategy faced a major setback in northwest on opposition for its coal export terminal project in port of St. Helens at port Westward.The port is on Columbia river about 60 miles northwest of Portland and forms a part of the company’s plans to cater to the coal export traffic from northwest of America to Asia. The company’s primary strategy in its terminals business includes claiming rate increases on existing contracts and increase coal throughput.
<br /> We currently have a price estimate of $90 for Kinder Morgan, implying a 15% premium to the current market price.
<br /> Portland General Electric, which holds sub-leasing rights for 852 acres of land at Port Westward has denied Kinder Morgan land for its export terminal project. Portland has a power plant in that region and it fears that coal dust from the Kinder Morgan facility might interfere with its generator. Kinder Morgan is presently evaluating alternate locations at the port from where it can access rail and water traffic of coal.
<br /> Kinder Morgan is planning to invest nearly $150 million to $200 million for building this facility to export 15 million tons of coal annually to Asia. This terminal can eventually support a peak load of 30 million tons per annum. The terminal would provide export channel for coal received from Powder River Basin in Montana and northeast Wyoming. Montana and Wyoming hold significant coal reserves, collectively forming nearly 40% of all coal reserves in the country, which bodes well with KMP’s plans. 
<br /> Kinder Morgan owns 90 dry-bulk terminals in the United States and Canada. In 2011, it handled nearly 100.6 million tons of dry bulk including coal and petroleum coke. The Westward project will provide supplemental coal handling capacity to the company, but delays could postpone the coal volume growth. The project is presently withheld while the company searches for a suitable location. However, the company is expected to file for permits for the project by the end of 2012 and would start construction by the end of 2013. 
<br /> The only other similar project coming up in the region is by an Australian company Ambre Energy, which will be able to handle at most 8 million tons, much less than that by Kinder Morgan. In view of this, Kinder Morgan’s facility will have an edge over the region, which could enable it to claim better realizations from its customers. The revenues from long-term lease agreements at the port is expected to be in the range of $2.5 to $5 million per year. 
<br /> Source: Kinder Morgan
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